ideas@TheCentre 25

The Chicago Council on Global Affairs recently surveyed respondents in the United States, China, Russia, Germany, United Kingdom, France, Japan, and India in terms of its influence in the world now and in the next 10 years. Not surprisingly, India was ranked last.

Every commentator in the land has had their say about the unprecedented dismissal of a first-term Prime Minister. The consensus is that Mr Rudd was destroyed by the same forces that made him Prime Minister – by the polls and the media-driven ‘machine’ politics that dominate contemporary public life.